I choose the tail because you are pretty much guaranteed that there won't be bones, but always do a double check by running your finger down the centre of the fillet. If you find any, just remove them.

Put the fillet on a large piece of clingfilm and place this in a container just larger than the fillet (you want a snug fit). Press the curing mixture over the top of the salmon, making sure it's totally covered. Wrap the excess clingfilm over the salmon to seal.

Place a flat object over the salmon fillet then weigh down (I use cans). Place in the fridge to cure for 24 hours.

Next day, remove salmon from container and scrap off the beetroot cure. Wash with cold water then pat dry on paper towels.

12 comments:

There's a taste and texture difference when you cure salmon. To start off it's more firmer, it's easier to handle. As for the taste, the beetroot does alter the taste when compared with more traditionally cured salmon. There's what I can only describe as an earthiness that beetroot brings to the fish. It had a nice touch of sweetness and the colour was just unbelievable. Sometimes cured salmon gets overwhelmed with dill, this was a cleaner result. The curing mixture worked in harmony with the salmon's own flavours and you were able to taste a bit of all the ingredients - they all effect different different areas of your palette. They all had their own purpose. Salmon's a beautiful fish just as it is, fantastic raw, it's hard to really do anything bad with it.

The beetroots main influence is in colouring the salmon, it is an amazing iridescent purple, but if you look at the slices you'll see the colour effect only goes down a few millimeters, so that limits it's ability to overpower the salmon. The curing alters the salmons texture, and the flavours harmonise with the salmons pre-existing taste. This one was only cured for 24 hours, naturally enough, if you left the cure on longer you'd get a more intense flavour.In the past I've followed more traditional methods and the salmon taste is always there, it's just complimented by the cure. On a side note, this is also a good way of easing people into the notion of eating raw fish.

This is just what I have been looking for - fabulous. I am going to do this for a party this week and slince and serve it on some mini homemade buckwheat blinis. But I wondered why the vanilla....? I am not a massive fan of vanilla except in a few desserts. Can you taste it? What do you think it adds?